Gordon Yite Tseng Photography
Shangri-La
The series explores a photographic world of fantasy. In reality, these animals are closed in zoos, live in artificial environments that human built for them and without real freedom. The concept combines with traditional Asian aesthetic and early Western photographic techinique. The dreaming and foggy images were inspired by Chinese ink-paintings and Japanee Ukiyo-e; however, all the elements were taken in different places in the UK. The name 'Shangri-La' was created by James Hilton, an English author to represent a utopia that has never been found. People and animals live in this land without sorrow and anxiety. I tried to catch 'Chi', which means an invisible power in Mandarin. The audience could feel the emptiness, but that emptiness is not simply an atmosphere, but a power could feed the spiritual hunger.
Other Projects
Perfect Land?
‘Perfect Land’ shows how an international student sees the environmental problems in the country he stays in. The black clothes and the faceless portrait symbolize that I am a human, and what we see in photos are things human have done to our environment. Because these places are too familiar to local people, we do not consider them as problems. I might be disappointed, but I do not despair. That is why I am still creating. What I want to say is, perhaps an artist cannot really be a superhero to save this world, but our works could be a power to inspire people to start thinking what we can do for our future.